It is great to see creative expansion of building accessories and components. Along these lines, Design Boom organized a design competition for innovative tile in 2004. This fleshy tile and a heated tile were the two winners out of over 1500 entries.

This “mood tile” is also pretty cool: imagine your walls changing color as the shower heats up in the morning!

You may not see all of these tile on Menard’s shelves next year, but these competitions push the envelope and broaden design thinking across the world.